• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Meet the Girl ↡
    • About Abby
    • Contact
  • Projects ↡
    • Organization
      • All Organization
      • Printables Library
      • Productivity
    • Decorating
      • Our Home Tour
        • Current House Home Tour
        • Townhouse Home Tour
      • All Decorating
      • DIY
      • Furniture Makeovers
      • Crafts
      • Holidays
    • Blogging
      • All Blogging
      • Income Reports
    • Happy Thoughts
  • My Products ↡
    • Impactful Habits, Organized Home Organizing Course
    • Browser to Buyer
    • Blogging Binder Printables
    • Home Binder Printables
    • Student Binder Printables
    • Christmas / Holiday Planner
    • Fitness Journal
  • Free Resources ↡
    • ClarityList for Bloggers
    • How to Start a Blog in 2020
    • 100+ Blogging Tips, Tools, and Resources to Grow Your Business
    • My Favorite Organizing Items
  • Income Reports

Abby Lawson logo

March 28, 2017 By Abby Lawson 40 Comments

How to Choose the Perfect Bamboo Shades for Your Space

Pin7K
Share8
Tweet
Email
7K Shares

One of the things I've been doing a lot of since we've moved into our new house is choosing window treatments. Allllllllll of our curtains and blinds from the townhouse stayed with the townhouse (and wouldn't have fit in the new house anyway), so we totally started from scratch!

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

A huge thanks to SelectBlinds for providing the bamboo shades for this post. My favorable opinion of gorgeous, high quality window treatments is 100% my own. 🙂 This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

So far we've put blackout Roman shades in the Cs' room (because sleeping children were my #1 priority 🙂 )...

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

...and pretty plantation shutters in the front rooms downstairs: the dining room and the bathroom. (Side note: who puts a bathroom with a window in the very front of the house?! Like literally right by the porch. We had to cover that up ASAP!)

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

Then it was time to move on to the back of the house in the downstairs spaces. We LOVE all of the windows in the back of the house because they allow us to look over the gorgeous view-- farmland, rolling hills, mountains, and the big blue sky! The sun can get harsh, though, so we needed to have some way to block it a bit at times.

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

view out the back windows

How to Choose the Perfect Bamboo Shades for Your Space

After looking at a bazillionty (totally a word) pictures on Pinterest and in magazines, I decided that bamboo shades would be the perfect option for us. They would bring in some texture and interest to the space, block the light when we needed them to, and look beautiful open when we didn't. Believe it or not, we had never had bamboo shades before, so I set out to do some research and pick the best ones for our space.

Deciding How to Mount Bamboo Shades

The first thing I needed to do was decide how I wanted to mount the shades. Should we go with an inside or outside mount? There were pros and cons to both. I read this awesome post by Young House Love where they recommended using an outside mount and mounting the shades above the actual window to make the windows look taller and more grand, which totally made sense.

But I also knew that we were planning on trimming out all of the windows in our house with some chunky, beautiful craftsman style trim, and the last thing I wanted to do was to cover that all up! So for us, I decided that the best option would be an inside mount so that the bamboo shades would compliment the pretty trim work without interfering with it.

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

our living room windows with new trim

Choosing a Color and Style of Bamboo Shades

Once I had decided how I would mount our shades, the next decision was to choose a color/style. Did you know that there are approximately 786 million different colors and styles of bamboo shades out there to choose from? Okay, so maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but there are a lot of options!

Again, I scoured the internet looking at examples of different types of bamboo shades, making note of what I liked and didn't like. After I had gotten an idea of the type of look I was leaning toward, I decided to order some samples. This was an absolutely essential piece of the process.

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

Samples!

It is so hard to tell exact color and texture from a little square on a computer screen, so seeing a piece of the shade in person really helped me figure out which would be the perfect choice for us. I ordered our samples from SelectBlinds, who provides them for FREE (woot!), so that was a definite bonus!

Here are some of the options we considered:

Light Options

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

1. Designer Series Woven Wood Shades in Jute Natural | 2. Designer Series Woven Wood Shades in Bali Natural

 

Medium Options

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

1. Designer Series Woven Wood Shades in Bali Abaca | 2. Designer Series Woven Wood Shades in Antigua Seagrass | 3. Premier Bamboo Shades in Maize

4. Woven Wood Shades in Mindanao Sandal | 5. Tropical Isle Bamboo Shades in Bamboo Tortoise | 6. Shoreline Woven Wood Shades in Boldo

7. Tropical Isle Bamboo Shades in New Guinea Natural | 8. Tropical Isle Bamboo Shades in New Guinea Camel

 

Dark Options

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

1. Premier Bamboo Shades in Sapele | 2. Premier Bamboo Shades in Carapa

So many choices, right?! Since we have dark hardwood floors, I ended up eliminating the dark options because I knew that they could easily clash if they were similar but not exactly the same. I also tend toward a lighter aesthetic in our house and didn't want the shades to make our rooms feel dark or heavy.

Since I use a lot of white in my decorating, I also eliminated the lighter options because once I had the samples and looked at them next to all of the white, they looked more yellow-ish, which wasn't the look I was going for in our space.

So that left me with the "medium" options, and there were a lot of them! Ultimately I ended up going with the Designer Series Woven Wood Shades in Bali Abaca because I liked how they brought in both gray-ish and tan-ish tones, which helped me bring together some of the neutrals I was planning to use in our space.

Measuring and Installing the Bamboo Shades

We measured each of windows to get their exact measurements. Even in our house that is a new build, windows that are "the same" can vary by up to 1/2", so we measured them individually in order to get the best fit possible. Having a perfect custom fit makes a huge difference as opposed to trying to rig an off-the-shelf shade from the home improvement store-- it looks neat and clean and makes installation simple.

The blinds were designed to attach to the top of the window frame, so we measured to determine where to install the bracket so it would match up with the opening on the blinds.

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

Donnie then used his cordless drill to mount the brackets in place...

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

...then we slid the blinds onto the brackets, tightened two wing nuts to secure them, and they were good to go!

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

One of the things I love about SelectBlinds' bamboo shades is that they are cordless, so I don't need to worry about the boys getting caught in the cords and hurting themselves. It is so easy to pull them down with the little ring hidden on the back of the shade, and then pull down to release them back up again when we want to enjoy the view outside.

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

I absolutely love the look of the shades in our space, and I think they're a perfect compliment to the trim work Donnie worked so hard to install! I may bring in curtains eventually, but right now I'm loving the windows as they are!

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

If you're looking to install some beautiful bamboo shades or other window treatments in your own home, SelectBlinds is offering Just a Girl and Her Blog readers an additional 5% off any sale they're currently having on their site when you use the code ABBY at checkout-- hooray for savings! We have been absolutely thrilled with the look and quality of all of the window treatments we've ordered from SelectBlinds and could not recommend them more highly!

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

Get more ideas for selecting staples for every space in these posts:

How to Measure for and Install Plantation Shutters

Beautiful and Affordable Light Fixtures for Every Room in the House

Beautiful and Affordable Aqua Area Rugs

Have you chosen and installed bamboo shades in your house? I'd love to hear your thoughts about them in the comments! 

Home- How to Choose Bamboo Shades, window treatments, shades, blinds, wood shades, woven wood shades, SelectBlinds

Have a wonderful week!

xo, Abby

A huge thanks to SelectBlinds for providing the bamboo shades for this post. My favorable opinion of gorgeous, high quality window treatments is 100% my own. 🙂 This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Filed Under: Decorating Tagged With: bamboo shades, blinds, selectblinds, window treatments

Pin7K
Share8
Tweet
Email
7K Shares
Free Printables Library at justagirlandherblog.com

Get 200+ pages of free printables!

Become one of our VIP newsletter subscribers and gain access to our exclusive free printables vault!

I want in!
Previous Post: « Our Trip to Magnolia!
Next Post: Signing Off for Now »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Pat says

    March 28, 2017 at 9:35 am

    Abby, I just love the blinds! But in some of my windows I would need a privacy factor. Do they come with liners?

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      March 28, 2017 at 9:37 pm

      Yes! SelectBlinds has both "privacy liner" and "blackout liner" options, so if privacy is a concern, you can definitely use those to help! Hope you're having a great day, Pat!

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  2. Holly says

    March 28, 2017 at 10:36 am

    Great walk through, Abby! I have always been hesitant about buying blinds online, but you make it seem seamless!

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      March 28, 2017 at 9:35 pm

      It really was super easy! 🙂 Hope you're having a great week, Holly!

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  3. Briana says

    March 28, 2017 at 10:47 am

    Hi Abby,
    Those shades look beautiful and I like how they bring in light even when they're rolled down. It gives a rustic, farmhouse vibe, which I love 🙂 It's so great you're trying out different options for your new home - it definitely helps us readers make informed decisions!
    Thanks,
    Briana

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      March 28, 2017 at 9:35 pm

      You are so sweet, Briana! Thank you! Hope you're having a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  4. Jan says

    March 28, 2017 at 11:35 am

    Great read! I am wanting some new window treatments - def bookmarking this post for reference.

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      March 28, 2017 at 9:34 pm

      Thank you so much, Jan! Best of luck with your choices! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  5. Loy says

    March 28, 2017 at 9:54 pm

    I don't have bamboo shades, but I have purchased faux wood and aluminum blinds from Select Blinds and have been very happy with both their products and service. I also really appreciated that they send samples as it helped me narrow my choices.

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      March 29, 2017 at 10:14 am

      Yes! So helpful!

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  6. Na'omi Keith says

    March 28, 2017 at 11:28 pm

    The shades are super beautiful! I would have never considered bamboo. Did you use bamboo anywhere else?

    Thanks Abby!

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      March 30, 2017 at 9:20 pm

      So far just the back of the house downstairs-- so Donnie's office, the living room, and the sunroom. But we still have a few more rooms to choose treatments for, so we'll see! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  7. Vanessa says

    April 01, 2017 at 10:40 am

    Those look beautiful! Thank you for the helpful post. Interestingly, I scanned through the swatches and picked the one you picked right away. I read through and saw that was what you chose! The woven look is perfect!

    Reply
  8. RONALD ANTINORA says

    April 01, 2017 at 11:02 am

    FEEL BETTER SOON, ABBY ! GREAT INFO, MANY THANKS !!

    Reply
  9. Melissa says

    April 01, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    We have bamboo shades in our downstairs (my office, the family room, and on the French doors in our kitchen) and I LOVE them. One of the things I love about ours is that they are designed to go up but can also pull down from the top - when I want light but also want some privacy. We also have white filter shades behind them when the bamboo lets in too much glare or we want additional privacy - the filters pull up all the way behind the bamboo mount, so they're completely invisible when I want them to be. Love them!

    Reply
  10. Elizabeth says

    April 01, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    They look really awesome, but so does everything else! Love it. We moved into an old fixer upper almost 2 years ago that had NO window coverings in the city! It took us awhile to figure out what we wanted. And then people were sad because they could no longer spy on us while driving by. lol! We need some light filtering for the kitchen though and I really like the idea of bamboo! Thanks for sharing. I don't know if I would have thought about that. 🙂

    Reply
  11. Clara Torres says

    April 01, 2017 at 10:37 pm

    Hi Abby! I worry about them holding the dust, but at the same time they seem easy to vacuum. Let me know how you feel about cleaning these. Thanks 🙂

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      April 12, 2017 at 9:34 am

      Hi, Clara! We've only had them for a few weeks, but so far, so good! They don't seem to get dusty easily at all. Hope you're having a great week!

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  12. Michelle says

    April 07, 2017 at 10:38 am

    This is such a great and timely post for me. I am looking for blinds for my kitchen, and will check out Select Blinds.I am hoping some top down blinds and Select Blinds has them. Will post again when I have them up! I am so glad to know they were easy to install

    Reply
  13. KaSonndra Leigh says

    April 09, 2017 at 6:24 am

    Hi Abby,

    I've been fighting this battle for a while. I couldn't decide on whether I should go with light or dark blinds given the dark coloring of the new floor I've chosen.This post will most definitely help and I'm so glad you took time to introduce us to this new company.

    Keep being awesome
    KaSonndrs

    Reply
  14. Stephanie says

    October 21, 2017 at 1:21 pm

    Hi there! Question for you - do the blinds themselves cause for a glare on your tv? Not sure how exactly you have them placed. Or do you think a liner would be more beneficial? I want shades, but don't want the room to be totally dark. We have a terrible glare from the window on our tv as they are opposite each other.

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      October 26, 2017 at 10:09 am

      Our windows aren't positioned in such a way that they cast light directly on the TV, so we've never had a problem with a glare. Light definitely filters through these shades, which is what we wanted to keep the space looking bright. If you're worried about a glare on the TV, a liner may be the way to go.

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  15. Chareen says

    December 07, 2017 at 8:36 pm

    We live in a converted school bus and I really want to get bamboo shades for it but my husband didn't like the light that came through, for some reason we had no idea that you could get a liner! Will be checking that out since we still have one "room" of the bus with temporary coverings

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      December 08, 2017 at 10:11 am

      Oh, wow! How fun! Hope it works out for you, Chareen! <3

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  16. Ash says

    December 16, 2017 at 7:45 pm

    Thanks so much for this article! I ordered my samples yesterday.

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      December 18, 2017 at 10:14 am

      So glad it was helpful! Hope you love them! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  17. Wendy says

    December 25, 2017 at 11:43 am

    Hello, I love the3 bamboo blinds. We have a lake home that faces west with 2 story windows. I'm hoping to put bamboo shades with liners in each window to help keep sun out in the afternoon. Saves on fading fabric furniture. Not sure how to pull upper blinds down if up in peek areas. I'm still looking into what is best for 2 story windows, but love that look.

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      December 29, 2017 at 9:31 am

      We love ours! Hope you figure out a great plan for your home! Have a great day, Wendy! <3

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  18. Dianne Gentle says

    April 09, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    Hi Abby, I'm looking at buying bamboo blinds for my windows in my great room, The floors are dark hardwood and the two leather couches are dark brown. What colour would you suggest for the blinds? Thanks so much!

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      April 19, 2018 at 1:52 pm

      Hi, Dianne! It's really hard to know without being in your space and being able to see everything, but I would probably do a contrasting color, so something lighter, since it seems like you already have some darker tones. If you tried to do another darker brown, it might get tricky because if it doesn't match exactly, it may look a bit off. I hope this helps!

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  19. Zeenie says

    May 21, 2018 at 4:21 pm

    Love the blinds. So u don’t have privacy liners on these correct? If I m getting these for the bedroom, would the privacy liner suffice or would I need blackout ones? Don’t want room to be dark, just don’t want anyone to be able to see inside since we have back neighbors. Thanks!

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      June 06, 2018 at 10:28 am

      Thanks, Zeenie! You are correct-- I did not do the privacy liners. I still don't think the neighbors can totally see through them, though. I would double check with SelectBlinds, but I am guessing that you would be okay with just the privacy liners rather than the blackout ones. Have a great week!

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  20. Barb Schwandt says

    July 02, 2018 at 11:00 am

    I love the choices of these bamboo blinds. I have 8 windows in my sun room. What.is the cost of this brand

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      July 16, 2018 at 11:24 am

      Thank you, Barb! The cost of the blinds vary based on the style and size you need. If you go to selectblinds.com and choose the settings that you want, it will let you know the price before you buy. You could also call their customer service number, and they could help you with exact pricing. Have a great week!

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  21. Crystal Brewer says

    December 27, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    Hey! This is very helpful! What are your favorite white paint colors?

    Thank you!?

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      January 10, 2019 at 2:24 pm

      My favorite white is Behr Marquee Cameo White. I use it ALL the time! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  22. Fran O. says

    March 03, 2019 at 3:13 am

    I tried to order samples from Select Blinds but I couldn't get the samples until I put an actual shade in my cart that they wanted me to buy. Am I doing it wrong? Other companies didn't require me to purchase a blind first. Kind of defeats the purpose of a free sample...

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      March 04, 2019 at 3:05 pm

      Ooh you definitely shouldn't have to buy anything! I have gotten samples without purchasing anything before. It sounds like a site glitch to me. I would reach out to their customer service people and let them know your issue. They have always been really helpful and should be able to get you squared away! So sorry it is giving you trouble!

      ~Abby =)

      Reply
  23. Lisa Ewert says

    March 17, 2019 at 11:08 am

    Hi Abby,
    Thanks for the tips ..LOOKS great. Please let me know the color of blinds you ordered.
    Thanks so much!

    Reply
    • justagirlabby says

      March 18, 2019 at 1:51 pm

      Hi, Lisa! We went with the Designer Series Woven Wood Shades in Bali Abaca. They are linked in the post. Thanks!

      ~Abby =)

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You have to agree to the comment policy.

Primary Sidebar

Hey there, friend! I'm Abby, and I'm so thrilled you stopped by! I love working to create a beautiful, thriving home, life and business and helping others do the same.

Read my story→

Let's Connect!

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Let's Get Organized!

Impactful Habits, Organized Home organizing course | https://abbylawson.com/ihoh
Deluxe Home Binder Printables | https://www.abbylawson.com/deluxe-home-binder-printables

Stick to your fitness goals!

Deluxe Fitness Journal | https://www.abbylawson.com/deluxe-fitness-journal-printables

How to Start a Blog

How to Start a Blog: The Definitive Guide

Our Course for Bloggers

Blogging: Organized

Deluxe Blogging Binder Printables | https://www.abbylawson.com/deluxe-blogging-binder-printables

Favorite Posts

Free Printable Library | 50+ Free Organizing Printables

50+ Free Printables to Organize Every Area of Your Life

home- cozy office nook, feminine home office, organized home office, small office, decorating, farmhouse office

A Cozy Office Nook

Ryan Homes Palermo Before and After Home Tour 2.5 Years In

Before and After Home Tour: Two and a Half Year Update

Free Printable Budget Binder Cover

Budget Binder for 2021 (with FREE Printables!)

Home organization- How to Organize Every Space in Your House, declutter, organizing, small space organization

How to Organize Every Space in Your House

Student Binder Printable Organizing Pages

Printable Student Binder

Personal Posts

Breast Cancer Awareness Month My Story by Just a Girl and Her Blog

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: My Story

This girl started out knowing nothing about blogging or online business and made 6 figures last year. Time to start that blog I've been thinking about!

From Hobby Blog to Thriving Business: My Blogging Story

Archives

Post Categories

Copyright

I love it when you share! Please keep in mind that all images and text on this site are property of Just a Girl and Her Blog. Feel free to use one or two photos provided that a link back to my original post is included. Please do not remove any watermarks, crop, or edit any of my images without first obtaining written permission from me. All free printables offered are for personal use only. Pinning is always welcome and appreciated! Thank you!

Privacy Policy & Disclosures

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Read our privacy policy and disclosures →

© 2021 Twenty Three Publishing LLC